Objectives:
Students will become experts in their area of evidence for evolution and will teach their classmates what they learned.
Students will gain an understanding of all the different types of evidence for evolution.
Materials:
Power point notes
Articles for jigsaw activity
Safety Issues:
N/A
Opening: Evolution is a controversial topic in our society today. I will get students excited for this lesson with an opening focused on this controversy. I will ask students what they know about this ongoing debate to gage their prior knowledge and ask them where they stand on the issue to connect it to their own lives and beliefs. I will then explain to the students that there are various forms of evidence for evolution and tell them that they will each be getting a chance to become an expert on one of the types of evidence.
Learning Activities: Jigsaw Activity Before we begin this activity I will explain to the students who may have never done this before what a jigsaw activity is and how it works. Students will be broken down into three groups and each group will be given an article to read on different types of evidence for evolution. The articles will be based on fossils, anatomy, and embryology. After reading the article each group will have some questions to answer and then they will form a study guide that they will use to teach their peers. Next the students will get into their jigsaw groups where they will teach their peers from the study guide they made in their expert groups. Discussion As a class we will quickly discuss the jigsaw activity to make sure everyone is on the same page and understood the material before moving on. Notes Next students will take notes from a power point projected on the smart bored that goes into more detail on the evidence for evolution.
Accommodations:
For many students today, reading and reading comprehension is not their strong suit and this lesson relies heavily on students being able to read and understand their article in order so that they can then teach others. To help students will special needs in this lesson I will provide them with a summary of the article they read so that they can go over the main points and put them into their own words without having to re-read the whole article again. This will allow these students to do the same work as their peers but will help them get their work completed on time. I will also circulate among the groups and ask guiding questions of everyone to make sure they are understanding the article.
Closing:
After we finish with the notes I will have a whole class discussion connecting the notes to the jigsaw activity and checking for comprehension. I will then tell the class what we will be doing next time as well as assign homework and make sure everyone is on the same page.
Assessment:
Students will be informally assessed based on their participation and performance during the jigsaw activity.
Homework:
There will be a quiz next class on Charles Darwin, Natural Selection, and Evidence for Evolution. Student’s homework will be to study for the quiz.
Evidence for Evolution
Lesson Overview:
Opening (5min)
Jigsaw Activity (1 hr total)
Expert groups (30 min)
Jigsaw groups (30 min)
Discussion / Debriefing (10 min)
Notes (15 min)
Closing (5 min)
Objectives:
Students will become experts in their area of evidence for evolution and will teach their classmates what they learned.
Students will gain an understanding of all the different types of evidence for evolution.
Materials:
Power point notes
Articles for jigsaw activity
Safety Issues:
N/A
Opening:
Evolution is a controversial topic in our society today. I will get students excited for this lesson with an opening focused on this controversy. I will ask students what they know about this ongoing debate to gage their prior knowledge and ask them where they stand on the issue to connect it to their own lives and beliefs. I will then explain to the students that there are various forms of evidence for evolution and tell them that they will each be getting a chance to become an expert on one of the types of evidence.
Learning Activities:
Jigsaw Activity
Before we begin this activity I will explain to the students who may have never done this before what a jigsaw activity is and how it works.
Students will be broken down into three groups and each group will be given an article to read on different types of evidence for evolution. The articles will be based on fossils, anatomy, and embryology. After reading the article each group will have some questions to answer and then they will form a study guide that they will use to teach their peers. Next the students will get into their jigsaw groups where they will teach their peers from the study guide they made in their expert groups.
Discussion
As a class we will quickly discuss the jigsaw activity to make sure everyone is on the same page and understood the material before moving on.
Notes
Next students will take notes from a power point projected on the smart bored that goes into more detail on the evidence for evolution.
Accommodations:
For many students today, reading and reading comprehension is not their strong suit and this lesson relies heavily on students being able to read and understand their article in order so that they can then teach others. To help students will special needs in this lesson I will provide them with a summary of the article they read so that they can go over the main points and put them into their own words without having to re-read the whole article again. This will allow these students to do the same work as their peers but will help them get their work completed on time. I will also circulate among the groups and ask guiding questions of everyone to make sure they are understanding the article.
Closing:
After we finish with the notes I will have a whole class discussion connecting the notes to the jigsaw activity and checking for comprehension. I will then tell the class what we will be doing next time as well as assign homework and make sure everyone is on the same page.Assessment:
Students will be informally assessed based on their participation and performance during the jigsaw activity.Homework:
There will be a quiz next class on Charles Darwin, Natural Selection, and Evidence for Evolution. Student’s homework will be to study for the quiz.